-= Four months ago, after the Captain's Table =--
Only three of them looked set to make it to the hot tub. Felix had
intended to surprise his senior staff: it was an innovation he had put
forward with the latest refit under the catch-all title of
'complimentary recommendations'. It was his chief engineer – last seen
near Regina, Harun and the gin cabinet – who had made sure each one of
them was incorporated.
Regina Monkfish, who refused to immerse her feet in any water whose
filtration system she had not personally overseen, continued to amuse
the present company with recollection of her latest passion: atonal
Yridian sea shanties. Mercifully they were more fable than warble.
Her audience had dwindled to one: Crewman Flarcess. A Yridian.
Tonx looked to Regina and then to Felix with a smirk as she lowered
herself into the hot tub until the water came up to her neck. It seemed
compulsory to let go a content sigh as she sunk into the hot water, and
leaned her head back as she closed her eyes. "This… this was a fine
idea, mon capitan." There was no way the cheeky Chief Sec was going to
miss out on something so decadent, nor was she entirely surprised that
Felix had something like this in his quarters.
Felix reappeared with two Corsaic spritzers. "Good team building, I
thought. We'll all see one another naked out in the field. A certain
someone already does."
As he passed Tonx her drink and chintzed the remaining glass together
with hers, he shot a look at the nearest console. It blinked off almost
shamefully.
"Enjoy your evening. Captain. Chief. Lieutenant." Perdita Animo's voice prickled. "And others."
"They're gone," said Felix, a moment later, with some confidence. He
started to peel off his upper clothing slowly, releasing a similar noise
to Tonx's as his jacket slipped. "Thank Edie for the hot tub. She
insisted the apartment was too good not to have one, and she designed
the schematics for the extension herself. I corrected some design
elements, but... I've got the most luxurious captain's quarters in the
whole o' the fleet." Rarely, when both inebriated and at ease, his
accent slipped. Became a bit further away from town than expected; was a
bit less varnished. "Far be it from me to question why."
Taking a sip of the drink Felix had given her, Tonx's gaze lingered on
Felix's torso, her eyes drawn towards some of his scars. The man had a
past, but didn't they all? "Does no good to question. Just be grateful,
Cap," she replied with her characteristic and charismatic smirk.
"Though. . .when you say the whole of the fleet, do you mean our new
fleet, or the greater fleet?"
With drunken objectivity Felix sunk himself into the broth, replying in a similar vein.
"The greater fleet. We're not attached to Omega. Not officially –
although I'd rather be," Felix added hastily. "I don't really know why
that is, apart from the drive, and where they're sending us. Perhaps
there's hope on the other side of the Beta Quadrant," he suggested.
Tonx laughed softly, "I shouldn't have asked the question because it's
led us down the path of talking shop." She took a slow draw of her
beverage, and closed her eyes as she savored the moment, "People don't
know what they are missing by not being here." Resting her head back
against the side of the tub, she then let her head flop towards Felix to
look at him, "I might have to beg you to let me have a soak in here
after each mission."
"You'd be welcome, Tonx. When you're not confined to quarters, that is."
Felix spoke in a friendly way and dodged good-naturedly the resulting
flick of water that headed towards his face. He settled, his glass only
splashed on the outside by the dappled foam of the bath. As he did, his
face seemed to reflect that he was somewhere else: relaxing his body
while his mind chewed over something new. Oblivious, even, to his pal,
protegé and, twice, lover and her advances.
Felix's teasing caused her to laugh again, and she shook her head,
"Smart arse." She knew he'd take it as the jest that it was, and she was
about to say something else when she saw him get a far-away look about
him. She'd seen him with that look before, and tilted her head ever so
slightly, "Where's that mind of yours gone, boss?"
Where had it gone?
"Slipstreamed to far away, it would seem.” His gaze came back to her. It
was tricky not to; many people he knew had found themselves just drawn
to Tonx. As his chief of security he’d seen her use it to her advantage,
and as a barfly, more. “Do you think I’m becoming too serious in my old
age? Ten years ago, we’d be on round three already and I’d not have
cared who found out. Now, my head’s telling me that those boundaries
exist for a reason. That you could’ve lost your commission lately, and
that people even talking about this would screw up your career.”
-= Four months later =-
“Stop it,” someone said, and Felix wasn’t entirely sure if it was him or Tonx.
He was certain that, a number of months previously, he’d said it would
screw up their career. And although he'd never tell her, the fact that
they were now on the other side of the galaxy and well away from
Starfleet jurisdiction had assuaged some of his worries, albeit not all
of them. He and the Lone Star had been sufficiently chastised of late;
he had no interest in losing his command.
But every good CO deserves a fuck every now and then, right? he mused to himself.
“Starfleet must never find out,” he said by accident, rolling onto his
back and kicking something – whatever it was – off his desk. "My turn."
Tonx gave a sing-song laugh, "They won't hear about this from me." She
placed her hands on his chest, giving him a knowing look coupled with
that charismatic smirk of hers, "Besides, what else are we supposed to
do when we're away from port for so long? Nothing wrong with scratching
an itch, right? Just so long as we don't let it interfere with our
duties."
"Correct." Felix winked. "Speaking of duties..." Neither of them heard
the door chime when Zolog rang it. Lonie provided him with the customary
'the Captain is unavailable' chant and sent him on his way.
-=-=-
by Captain Felix de l'Isle and Lieutenant Greer 'Tonx' McKenna
CO and CSec, USS Lone Star